Freezing dough

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

pacanis

Chef Extraordinaire
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
18,750
Location
NW PA
I read here where bread dough can be frozen, but I can't seem to locate that thread and I don't think it gave a step by step anyway. I have been running into a problem lately with my bread making because it takes so darn long. I need to think what I will be doing three hours and eighteen minutes later so it doesn't sit in the machine too long after it's done and get crusty. So this is what I'd like to know;

Using my bread machine to knead the dough, when would I take the dough out and what do I need to do to it to freeze it and then thaw it to bake?

I think the steps my machine goes through is knead, rest, knead again, rise, then bake. I am thinking I should take it out after the second knead, before the last rise. Yes, no? And I am thinking that I can leave it in a ball and simply wrap it in plastic wrap that has been sprayed with a non-stick spray and put it in a container in the freezer, but something is leaning me to also think that I should shape it into a loaf before I freeze it, in case it rises as it thaws, or maybe you thaw it in the fridge and it won't rise there? Or stick it in the pan, let it rise then freeze it, so all you need to do is thaw and bake? As you can see, I'm totally lost :huh: Having always let the machine make my bread for me I don't even know what shape it has to be in to rise (it's always a ball in the machine) and what pan to use to bake the loaf in (meatloaf pan?).

Can someone walk me through these steps, please.
 
You are right as far as when to stop and wrap for freezing. The shape is less important.

Leave the shaping to a loaf until after thawing and before the final rise.
 
yep on the meatloaf pan.
I shape my dough before I freeze it into at least just a rectangle that will fit in the loaf pan frozen.... then I just let it thaw and do it's last rise in it's pan (greased) right out of the freezer.

Another thought. (I wish I could have all my thoughts at one time) :wacko:
Can you choose what size loaf you are making with your bread machine? I don't think the largest loaf size will fit in a regular bread pan, I think you need to make a 1 or 1.5 lb loaf.... I can't remember which, but I know a 2 lb loaf wont fit once it's risen and baked.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the help.

Suzi, I can choose 1.5 or 2 lb, but if I followed a different recipe other than a bread machine recipe, I don't see why I couldn't cut down the ingredients and make a 1 lb loaf if that's a better size for the pan.

So how long does it take to thaw and rise? Do you let it set out at room temp? What if I let it set in the fridge for a day and baked it the next day? How much leeway do I have before it needs baked?

I'm trying to make baking a little more convenient where I'm not so time constricted other than the actual baking time.
 
you buy yourself more time thawing / rising in the fridge. I'd give it a good 6 hours in there, may even need to rise it on the counter after that a little.
Thawing / rising on the counter, maybe 3 hours? I haven't done it in about a year so I can't remember, but I think you may have inspired me to play with it to refresh my memory..... and I'll write it down this time!
Oh and I'm thinking the 1.5 lb will fit ok. But don't quote me on that. :)
 
Can you over-rise dough? Does it flatten back down or go stale?
Maybe I need to play around a little with this. What's the worse that can happen? I lose a little bread dough....
 
I've had dough over -rise at work for bagels, but not a loaf at home. I'm impatient and want to bake it right away at home. At work I'm not hanging around for anything!
After I leave the kids forget to check on them and put them in the fridge.... they get very big but they bake very puffy if you don't flatten them by too much handling. If it over proofed in a bread pan I think it would be fine since you're not handling the dough with your hands again.
 
You are in control of your bread dough. Use your bread machine,or whatever machine you happen to like (food processor, stand mixer, hand power, etc) and then choose how to save it for later (frige or freezer) if that is necessary. You can put it in the fridge to keep for later that day to finish but know that once the dough has been chilled, you must get it back to a temp the yeast likes or it will not rise. How much time that takes will depend on the climate in the kitchen. Dry or humid? Hot or cool. ALWAYS protect rising dough from drying out by putting oil on its surface and covering it with plastic or moist cloth. If you have frozen your dough, shaped or not, you can thaw it slowly in the fridge or quicker at room temp. If you shaped it before freezing, wait for the dough to rise above the pan 1 inch or so before baking. How long that takes depends on how hot, dry, cold or humid the room temperature. If you didn't pre shape the dough, wait for it to become pliable before shaping it to fit your pan 1/2 to 2/3 full. Then rise it to 1 inch above pan and bake. Allowing the dough all those risings will produce wonderful flavor because of the fermentation that has been allowed. Remember to put 1 tsp of sweetener per 4 cups of flour into dough that will be held over or frozen. The yeast will feed on that while it waits for you.
 
Last edited:
You can over rise dough, leaving you with bricks just like a fallen souffle. Punch down over risen dough and shape again, just know that every subsequent rise might take longer.
 
...Using my bread machine to knead the dough, when would I take the dough out and what do I need to do to it to freeze it and then thaw it to bake?

Hi, Pacanis. Another option is to use this recipe from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day": Recipe: Simple Crusty Bread

The recipe makes enough dough for four loaves and you can keep the dough in the fridge for up to two weeks. When you want to bake a loaf, pinch off a lump of dough, shape and let rise for an hour, then bake. That's it :)
 
How do you like that book "Artisan Breads in five Minutes" ?

It looks great. I've been out of town a lot this past month since I got it, so I haven't made anything from the book yet, but I have made the original New York Times no-knead bread recipe several times (the book's recipes are based on that concept) and that worked very well.

I have several recipes marked that I want to try after next week's vacation. It will have to wait till there's a cool day, though, which doesn't happen often in the summer here in SE VA. Usually, I rarely use the oven during the summer.
 
Back
Top Bottom